“One thing we forget to know is that failed states once had civil, constitutional laws that were put in place: when these laws don’t work for all that's when dictatorship arises and injustice hugs the land, and prosperities become the luxury of the few, not the masses.”

— Henry Johnson Jr

Ask a million people what is wrong with Nigeria, and you will get a million perspectives. That in itself tells a story.

One afternoon, I picked up a book from the library. I was shocked to see that Nigeria ‘proudly’ made it in the list of the top 20 failed states in the world.

The next question any right-thing person reading this may ask is: What’s wrong with Nigeria?

The answer is simple: bad politicians.

You hear the empty noise over rooftops that Nigeria is the world’s largest democracy in Africa and assume that it is also the giant of Africa. But let us ask these pertinent questions:

Is the system truly representative? During an election, do people's votes count?

It is one-man-one-vote; and is that all that matters?

Is the clear majority really capable of understanding and judging the leaders they choose?

So, do they really represent the people?

Isn’t it common to see votes being bought and sold in its crudest form?

Don’t we see votes being garnered on the basis of religion and nepotism?

What about votes garnered at gunpoint?

So can anyone stand up and claim the virtues of Nigerian democracy as being truly fair and truly representative?

Should Nigerians really beat their chests with pride while proudly claiming to be Africa’s largest democracy?

Free and fair…really? Even though President Muhammadu Buhari appoints his relatives as the electoral commission umpire as his proxy with nonchalance?

The facts on the ground show that these things don’t count. Majority of Nigerians still live in severe poverty and poor-living conditions, with little education or awareness of matters outside their areas of residence. Religious fundamentalists like Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen keep indoctrinating gullible Nigerians as terrorists, killing innocent Nigerians for some nonsensical deity and reasons that are bereft of rationality.

I think it is time to sit up and question the “quality” of politics that is practised in Nigeria. The intelligentsia and civil society are aware of the failings, as you and I are too, but the big question before us is: What are we doing about it? The lack of education and awareness, coupled with abject poverty, often expose the voters to elect leaders who seem to offer them solutions for a better life, but instead end up buying or coercing them to vote.

Under Buhari, Nigeria is witnessing increasing levels of intolerance to anyone who questions his draconian tendencies. What is more worrying is the trend that he and his mercenaries are resorting to violent means to quash dissidents. Buhari’s regime has killed and incarcerated untold numbers of Biafran activists calling for a referendum, because of the precarious state of Nigeria. Human rights activists, the media that serve as a voice for the people have not been spared.

In a democracy, a citizen’s vote is one non-negotiable weapon, but in Buhari’s failed state it is nothing but a worthless exercise. I hate to say this, Buhari would re-elect himself in the absence of true revolution.

•Emeka Onwubiko is a law student at the University of Adelaide, Australia.

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